'Dyess Raw

Antonio McDyess, who led the Pistons with 21 points and 16 rebounds in Detroit's Game 4 win, has seen his production improve in each round this postseason.

PPG

RPG

Conf. finals

14.5

10.8

Conf. semis

8.2

8.4

First round

7.0

5.0

He often plays with the most energy on a team that traditionally peaks and flops depending on whether its up, even or behind in a series.

Playing his best game playoff game in perhaps a decade, McDyess had 21 points and 16 rebounds to lift Detroit to a 94-75 series-evening win over the Boston Celtics on Monday night in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals.

The 33-year-old McDyess rejuvenated his injury-plagued career when he signed with the Pistons in 2004 -- shortly after they won the NBA title -- and refused to let a broken nose slow him down this postseason.

"You only have so many opportunities, and they're limited, especially for me," he said. "I'm at the end of my career, and I just feel like leaving everything out on the floor."

McDyess did just that, beating the Celtics to loose balls, defending them with strength and quickness and making most of his shots.

"Dice has been our best player in the postseason, and we're all feeding off his energy," teammate and close friend Chauncey Billups said. "You see how hard he is working, and you can't help but play hard."

Playing hard probably won't be a problem for either team or any player as the Eastern Conference finals becomes a best-of-three series.

Game 5 is Wednesday night in Boston, then the Pistons will host Game 6 on Friday night. If necessary, the Celtics will be back at home Sunday night.

Tie Up Loose Ends

The Celtics became just the fourth team ever to see each of its first three playoff series tied at 2-2, including both five- and seven-game series. No team has had four series tied at 2-2 in a single postseason.

Year

Team

Series

2008

Celtics

3

1993

Suns

3

1993

Sonics

3

1976

Celtics

3

Boston's Sam Cassell wasn't surprised the Pistons played the way they did.

"When you're down 2-1, you've got to be desperate," Cassell said.

The Celtics desperately need their stars to play better than they did Monday.

Boston's Big Three shot awfully as did most of the Celtics, but the NBA's top-seeded team stayed competitive for much of the game thanks to a stark disparity in free throws.

"We pride ourselves on making our teammates better and allowing them to make us better," Allen said.

Garnett and Pierce both scored 16 points and Allen had 11.

Elias Says

The Celtics made only 21 field goals in their Game 4 loss to the Pistons. In the shot-clock era, only one team converted fewer field goals in a conference finals or NBA Finals game: Portland was 19-for-77 from the field in an 85-63 loss to San Antonio in the 1999 conference finals.

The Pistons attacked Boston at both ends of the court as they got off to a strong start.

They led 10-0 thanks to McDyess' eight points and swarming defense that led to Boston missing its first four shots and later having more turnovers (3) than points (2).

"We put a lot of emphasis on the start because that team is so good when they get on top," Billups said. "We didn't want to let them do that again."

Game notes

McDyess' previous high in points this postseason was 17 and his high in rebounds was 14. ... While playing for Phoenix against San Antonio in the 1998 playoffs, McDyess had a career-playoff high 26 points in one game, 19 rebounds in another and four blocks in yet another game against the Spurs. ... Hamilton played in his 114th postseason game, breaking Bill Laimbeer's team record. ... Allen learned how to sign "NBA Basketball is Fantastic" in American Sign Language before the game as teammate P.J. Brown ate a PBJ sandwich.